Paris 2024: Macron uses the Olympics to campaign

IOC President Germany's Thomas Bach and French President Emmanuel Macron. GETTY IMAGES

It’s the event of the year for France. And Emmanuel Macron believes that the French will “take the Paris Olympics into account” when they vote in the forthcoming legislative elections and will not want leaders who are “not ready at all”, he told the press on the sidelines of the G7 in Bari, Italy, on Thursday.

“I think they do not want the Olympic Games to go badly,” the head of state stressed, referring to the legislative elections on 30 June and 7 July, less than three weeks before the Olympic Games in Paris (26 July – 11 August).

The French will be looking for “continuity” with officials “who have prepared for these Games” and “not people who are not ready at all”, he insisted, implicitly targeting his National Rally opponent Jordan Bardella, who could become prime minister.

The snap national election called by French President Emmanuel Macron will not affect the Paris Olympics, IOC President said on Monday. Thomas Bach said the Paris Games have always had broad support across the French political spectrum, adding, “I have no indication whatsoever that this unity will break now, just … before the Games open.”

“Paris is not only on track to deliver the first ever Olympic Games in line with our Olympic agenda, our reforms. But they are ready, they are set,” Bach told a meeting of the International Olympic Committee’s executive board in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Thursday.



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